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Are you dealing with a higher volume of cyber-attacks due to Covid-19?

Unfortunately, Covid-19 has led to a sharp increase in cyberattacks worldwide. Cyber criminals have been quick to exploit the current situation and are targeting service providers in the health care sector, such as hospitals, as well as businesses in the manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries and even public authorities.

The attacks are very diverse and include:

Phishing for access to data,

E-Mail attachments containing malware,

Reference links to websites that are infected with malware,

Fake landing pages, allegedly from sites such as the Johns-Hopkins University or the World Health Organization showing the latest Covid-19 infection rates,

Social engineering activities,

Downloadsor simple spam e-mails.

In fact, during March of this year alone, organizations across various industries reported a 475% increase in malware attacks.

This dramatic rise in criminal cyber activity means companies must implement preventive measures to protect their IT systems and enhance their cyber security regime. In addition, the rapid growth in home office workplaces — in Germany, for example, 55% of companies have transitioned employees to telework — exposes organizations to new IT security and data protection risks.

Examples of increased IT security threats and recommended preventive measures

Website and web application scanning in order to identify and close potential vulnerabilities, including "open ports".

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase in malware, including Ransomware, and an obvious rise in phishing and Trojan horse activities as well as attacks on corporate infrastructure.

Regular penetration tests that simulate a hacker’s attack and, at the same time, checking the stability of current systems and eliminating weak points.

Data protection violations or conflicts with the EU-GDPR can easily occur. This can happen when employees throw away confidential documents in the normal household waste rather than shredding them at the office, for example, or when members of a household share devices used for processing business data. Mistakes can also be made when handling personal data if an employee becomes infected with Covid-19.